I spent this weekend in Yorkshire visiting my painting as part of a group exhibition at the Open Gallery in Halifax. I went with my good friend Stuart who has recently started on his own creative journey with pottery.
Stuart is keen to find his voice as a potter, and it made me reflect on finding my own voice as an artist.
Initially, like many others before me, I learned how to paint by copying other artists in my own way. It’s a natural and inevitable part of the creative process, but after a while I was desperate to find my own voice.
I then thought my voice might be the colour palette I was using, my love of blues and greens, but a recent commission that specifically wanted yellow tones only taught me that I can make my style in any colour I like.
Before I knew it, I realised that I didn’t need to find a voice because I already have one. I have a distinct way of making marks, a unique style of blending colours and mixing sharp edges and clean lines alongside smoke like finishes.
My work is full of light, and contrast, and dynamism. Its alive, and vibrant, and unapologetic. It’s not what I paint, or the colours I use, it’s how I paint that makes it my work. It’s mine because I made it!
Now that might seem very obvious, but I promise you, it isn’t. Finding your voice - as a person, as a woman, as an artist - will be one of the hardest (and most liberating) things you will ever do.
What common threads do you see in my work? What makes a painting a Kat Newman original to you? Please send me the first thing that pops into your mind - I’d love to hear your thoughts.